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Evaporative Cooler Care Book

April 30, 2008

I don’t normally make product sales pitches here, but I was contacted by a guy in New Mexico who has written a book all about evaporative (swamp) coolers – how to “summerize”, “winterize”, repair, and generally maintain, complete with pictures and descriptions.

You can learn more about it at his website, EasyCoolerCare.com.  Given the amount of questions I field from people buying homes with swamp coolers, this book looks like it might be a fabulous $10 (plus $5 shipping and handling) investment.

There’s a section of the Easy Cooler Care book available free via PDF file that you can download and read – it’s a guide to helping you figure out the proper sizing, make, model, and so on for your cooler.  I think that’s pretty helpful if you don’t know how to measure for pads or what size pump to purchase.

Lessons Learned from Canadians Buying Tucson Real Estate

April 29, 2008

I recently had the pleasure of helping a couple of Canadians buy real estate here in Tucson as investment property.  The current exchange rates make real estate here in Sunny Arizona rather attractive at the moment to our Canadian friends.  I think we both learned a lot about how real estate works in each other’s country, but the big take-aways were thus:

• It can be difficult to finance non-resident foreign nationals (AKA Canadians) trying to get an American mortgage.  I believe I still have two resources where a Canadian can get an American loan to finance a home here in Tucson though.  You’ll need at least 30% down.
• Prices for homes in Tucson are much more affordable than pricing for similar homes in such areas as Vancouver, or so I’m told.  We can find a 3 bed, 2 bath, reasonably sized home, pretty much move-in ready, anywhere between $175,000 and $250,000 pretty easily, depending on the area of town.
• If you’re looking for investment property, I’ve got resources for property management, general handymen repair, landscaping, etcetera, to help you maintain and operate the property here in Tucson while you’re back home in Canada.
• Also – If you’re looking for a vacation property here in Tucson, we’ve got several condo conversion projects that might fit the bill perfectly.  There’s even a condo project in a resort area with a rental pool, to help offset the carrying costs of the vacation property.

I’m told it’s 12°C and rainy in Vancouver today.  Supposed to be in the mid 30°s over here in Tucson.  I’m just sayin’.

You Ready To Fire Up your Swamp Cooler?

April 28, 2008

It’s heating up in Tucson!  I’ve seen lots of people on their roofs this weekend getting their swamp coolers ready for the season.  I have a friend who claims to not know how to service his swamp cooler, to get it ready to use.  I think they just are trying to get me to go over there and do it for them, but how will they ever learn if they don’t figure it out themselves?

But let’s review the basic concepts.

Hopefully, you winterized the unit properly (or had it winterized properly, if you weren’t feeling so handy).  It should have been completely drained and cleaned, pads removed, motors oiled, unplugged, water turned off and water line emptied, possibly the pan rust-scrubbed and coated, and kept covered over the winter.  If you didn’t do those things, you may fire the evap cooler up and find water dripping out the bottom of the holes rusted through the water pan.  In which case, just get off the roof and call your home warranty person or a cooler repair person.

You’ll need to turn the water back on, make sure there are no holes in the supply line.  You’ll need to install fresh cooler pads as well.  If you winterized everything properly, setting up the cooler for the summer season should be a snap.  Remove cover, turn on water, install pads, plug in pump and motor, and voila.

If you’ve got a MasterCool, you can download their user manuals at the MasterCool site, which should help you figure stuff out and do some basic troubleshooting. 

Don’t know if you’ve got a MasterCool?  Does your evaporative cooler draw in air from one side or from 3 or more?  If it’s pulling air in from only one side, chances are, it’s a MasterCool.  MasterCool pads and operation are a bit different from the traditional evaporative coolers.

If you’ve got the regular non-MasterCool type of swamp cooler, best bet is to go down to your friendly Ace Hardware and ask for help, if you get stuck.  Don’t forget to measure the size of the unit so you know what size pads to purchase.  Otherwise, you’ll be making lots of trips on and off the roof and back and forth to Ace.  Trust me on that one.

Thinking about Trade-offs

April 25, 2008

I’ve been thinking a lot about trade-offs lately. 

Whether you’re buying or selling a home, there’s always a trade-off.  Price for location.  Condition for price.  Yard size for age of home.  Condition for age of home.  The list goes on.

I think it’s important to make smart trade-off decisions.  If you’re a geek like me, you could make a weighted scoring function to help you decide.  But if that doesn’t float your boat, you could always just sit down and make a list of pros and cons. 

I think learning how to make those trade-off decisions is the hardest part about selecting a home to purchase.  Your picture of the ideal home may change over time as you see what kind of homes are available for your money in Tucson.

It’s a skill that takes a bit of time to develop, and one that I can help you with, but ultimately the decision is always yours.

I’ve got a sweet first-time buyer couple going through this right now.  Not only are they making a decision which home to purchase, but it’s one of their first big decisions as a couple.  Will it be the one with the big garage and back yard with no HOA and the small bedrooms and new paint needed?  Or the move-in ready one with the smaller yard and garage and the HOA?

…And We’re Back

April 25, 2008

Lasik yesterday, back to work today.  Thanks to all for the good luck wishes.  The surgery was extra creepy, but painless and fast, and I’m seeing nearly 20/20 today with very little irritation or discomfort.  Many thanks go to the good folks over at Hodges Eye Care for taking excellent care of me during the whole process.

Oh, and I scored these sweet goggles. 

Tres chic, no?

La-La-La-Lasik

April 24, 2008

Forgive me if I am difficult to reach in the next day or two.  I’m having Lasik performed on Thursday, and am told I’ll be up and running again quickly, but I just want to warn you now that it might take a day to get to the pile of email I expect to accumulate. 

I talked to a bunch of people before deciding to go through with the surgery.  It seems that nearly everyone has had Lasik or has a friend who has done it.  Mostly good stories, is what I hear.  I’m excited, I’m terrified – I’m getting lasered!  I’ll be back in a day or two with new eyes, WOOT WOOT!

Down Payments and First Time Buyers

April 22, 2008

I sat down with a first time buyer the other day and we were going through my little buyer presentation and we got to the money section, talking about earnest money and closing costs and down payment – she stopped me and said that everyone is telling her that she shouldn’t have to put any money down as a first time buyer.

Ah, hold on a second there, my dear.   Things have changed since your friends bought houses three years ago.  For one thing, financing has gotten tighter.  Lenders, in general, are much more picky about which loans they will originate and to whom.

She’d been talking to a lender who was rather non-responsive, so we got her to a lender more interested in helping her purchase a home, and we’re working on the financing end.  There are various assistance programs and Seller closing cost credits we can use to help her come in with less money, respectively.  It will depend largely on what kind of loan she wants and her credit scores.

But no money down in general for a first time buyer in today’s lending market?  Not so much the best advice. 

Paying for Unexpected Costs during Roof Repairs

April 21, 2008

I had one of my properties re-roofed last week, and the experience really drove home two points for me:

1. If you’re selling a home and it needs a new roof – just put it on now while you have time to gather and compare bids.  It’s expensive, yes, but it takes a potential huge objection away from the Buyer as a negotiating tool.

2. If you’re buying a home and the roof needs to be replaced, make sure the Seller is going to be on the hook for any extra costs that might be incurred when the roof is replaced, for any extra damage that the roofers might find.  Many times, you can’t get on a roofer’s schedule fast enough to have it all done before close of escrow.

My roofer found a layer of insulation we didn’t know existed and huge patches of dry rot and dry wood termites that we had to correct – which came close to doubling the cost to replace the stupid thing.  Can you imagine if you had just bought a house and the roofer bill came in at twice the estimate due to the unexpected damage found underneath old layers of roof?  You better make sure that the Seller is going to pay that bill.

Photo via Flickr, courtesy of marielito

The Tucson Home Pricing Game

April 17, 2008

I had a different post planned for today, but thought this would be more interesting.

I’m pricing a home where there have been no solds in the neighborhood for the past 6 months, so I had to go back a little further than I might normally, so that I can extrapolate the current potential market value. 

And I must say, normally sold prices don’t line up so clearly over time.  Guess which two solds are distressed sales?

And granted, this chart doesn’t take into account the condition of the properties – but I’ll throw in that they range from original (from the late 1970’s) to partially updated and the one I’m pricing is completely remodeled.  Of the two active listings, the higher priced one is a partial remodel with 4 poor pictures, while the other one has no interior pictures and a single line description – it’s a relative unknown at this point.

I’ve decided what I think is an acceptable range of values for the property – what say you?

How much is this home worth in today’s market?

Spring and the Pecan Trees

April 16, 2008

You know Spring has sprung when the pecan trees start blooming.  There’s a couple on the side of I-10, and a large grove of them further outside the city in several regions.

Do you say “pe-CAN?”

or “pe-CAHN?”

Most people around here say “pe-CAHN.”

But if your grandpappy is a bolo-tie wearing, good ole Southern boy like mine, you call them “pe-CANS.”

We’ll go back to real estate tomorrow.  Just a little spring diversion.

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